“Only God Forgives”

Rating: R

When: Opens Friday

Where: Reading Gaslamp 15

Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

★★½

There is no doubt that Nicolas Winding Refn, the Danish filmmaker, is a visionary of sorts. His films are wonderfully well-crafted, with loving care and consideration devoted to every sequence and shot. He is an art film director who makes films about brutal subjects, never shying away from severe, graphic violence — indeed, often he gleefully embraces it.

He has gotten tremendous performances out of actors like Tom Hardy, Mads Mikkelson, Ryan Gosling and Albert Brooks, who absolutely should have been nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for “Drive,” Refn’s 2011 crime thriller, which managed to be both sleek and gritty at the same time. His movies have a consistent vision, from the first establishing shot to the final frame, which is as much as we can ask from any filmmaker, even if his work is often challenging and lurid. His new film, “Only God Forgives,” has all of that. It’s beautifully shot, it trades in horrific subject matter, and it lets the camera linger on Gosling, the pretty boy who is fearless and talented, the prince of the art house.

It’s moody, brutal, sexual, violent and, oh yes, Oedipal, as well as deeply ambitious. But “Only God Forgives” is also ponderous and plodding. Refn’s trick has always been to match his extraordinary style with real substance, but this time the film’s humanity feels lost and overwhelmed, and as a result, Refn ends up squandering Gosling’s deep emotional reserves.

He plays Julian, an American living in the underworld of Bangkok, where he runs a crooked underground fight club, the sort of place where bouts are fixed and books are cooked, all to make money for a larger criminal operation. His history is a mystery, but it begins to bubble to the surface when, after a sweaty brawl, Julian’s sociopathic brother goes in search of pleasures that are both illegal and illicit, and he won’t take no for an answer.

A heinous crime is committed, and when the police arrive, Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm) takes charge, forcing the victim’s father to exact his revenge, and also meting out some justice of his own with the surprisingly large blade he keeps on him at all time. It’s all bloody and horrific, and it’s only the beginning. “Only God Forgives” is a revenge thriller, after all, and one death begets another. Soon, Julian’s mother, the crime matriarch Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas), shows up and orders Julian to settle the score with her favorite son’s killers.

Gosling barely registers a pulse as Julian, which seems to be an intentional choice on the part of both filmmaker and actor. His nemesis isn’t the police officer, but his own mother, who has clearly played a part in what a broken man he has become. It’s that relationship that Refn explores throughout the movie, the impact of parent on child, and the many ways in which parents ultimately fail their children. That isn’t enough, though, to make “Only God Forgives” entertaining, however, or particularly poignant — a trait the filmmaker has never been accused of.

While it may not register the intended depth, “Only God Forgives” succeeds in being absolutely beautiful. Really. The movie is sumptuous, thanks to cinematographer Larry Smith, who has done wonders with lighting and Beth Mickle’s production design. This is a sweaty gangland that’s always dangerous and frequently deadly, but simply gorgeous to behold.

Ruling over all of this is Chang, the aging supercop who will eventually seek some vengeance of his own. This character is almost as impossible to read as Gosling’s Julian. He’ll sing karaoke to his men in an almost somnambulant fashion, dote on a young child, and then serve as judge, jury and occasional executioner. There will be a showdown between the two of them at some point, but when it happens, you may find yourself, as I did, underwhelmed. Is Chang the deity suggested in the film’s title? Refn doesn’t come right out and say so, because the film as a whole is obtuse. But one thing is clear — no one is forgiven in “Only God Forgives,” even the audience.

Anders Wright reviews movies for U-T San Diego. Email him at anderswright@gmail.com